In, “Design for the One Percent” an article by Alex Cocotas, Cocotas critiques the affect that, “starchitects”, have on the community they build upon. He centralizes his article on Zaha Hadid a female architect who creates her designs to please the global elite. He discusses some of Hadid’s major projects that failed to contribute to its purpose, to engage in the community, and did not consider others who were not part of that one percent of global elite.
One of Hadid’s past projects that Cocotas points out was the Vitra fire station in Germany. It was designed with an artistic view and beautifully crafted, but served no purpose in its function. Her design was later created into a museum proving how the form of the structure was highlighted over its function. It was more of an aesthetic project that did not serve its purpose as a fire house. Not only does it not serve its purpose, but it can also become a waste of public money and in the planning, the exclusion of the opinion of those who are being affected by the construction.
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However, even though it did not fail its function and purpose, as the fire station did, it did fail to engage in its community. Cocotas describes it to have, “a wonderful design, yet it’s also like a fortress” (Cocotas, 2016). Overall this this project used its structure as a shield as it became the destruction of the live hood, the neighborhood, and the lives of many of those in the surrounding communities that do not see it as part who they are and what their community